Conveyer for granular materials



y 9, 1939- J. J. NEUMAN CONVEYER FOR GRANULAR MATERIALS Filed Nov. 18, 1937' INYEIVTORV Patented May 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,157,301 1 CONVEYER FOR GRANULAR. MATERIALS .lacob John Neuman, South Salem, N. 1'.

Application November 18, 1937, Serial No. 175,204

10 Claims.

This invention relates to endless belt conveyers for the conveying in bulk of granular materials and especially those of a sticky nature,

' such as raw sugar, damp refined sugar and 5 other granulated or comminuted materials in a similar condition.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a conveyer of this type which is selfcleaning in all respects.

10 Another object of the invention is to provide a conveyer arrangement so formed that all spill from the conveyer will be collected and delivered with the bulk of material being conveyed.

Another object of the invention is to provide ll a conveyer for cohesive materials so formed that such material cannot build up or cohere to either the conveyer proper, its pulleys, idlers or other parts.

A still further object of the invention is to pro- 20 vide, in a conveyer, pulleys and idlers of a slatted construction.

A further object of my invention is to provide a conveyer combining self-cleaning head and tail pulleys, troughing and return idlers, all of a 25 slatted nature, which are cheap and easy to manufacture, and also to provide an auxiliary or clean out conveyer under the main conveyer which will continuously carry the material falling from the main conveyer or the idlers thereof 30 to the discharge point of the conveyer.

With the foregoing and such other objects in view, as may hereinafter more fully appear, I have invented the device shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

35 Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly cut away,

showing an inclined conveyer;

Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view of the head 40 or tail pulley taken on its centerline; and

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of the plow 50 in Figure 1.

There are several difllculties encountered in conveying materials of a comminuted, granular 5 or cohesive nature, on an ordinary belt conveyer.

No matter whether conveyers of this type are discharged over the end or by a plow positioned diagonally with respect to the belt and discharging over one side, .a certain amount of material is 50 bound to adhere to the belt. This is true even when a plurality of plows or scrapers are used. n the return portion of the belt the side to which the material, not discharged, has adhered becomes the under side of the belt and as the 55 belt passes over the idlers which support it the material tends to adhere to the idlers and soon builds up upon the surface thereof causing the belt to run oil of its normal course, resulting in excessive wear and shortening the life of the belt. If this is to be prevented frequent cleaning of idlers is necessary, thus increasing the operating cost and necessitating shut-downs. A further difliculty is that a portion of the material, when it has adhered to the belt, becomes loosened during the return passage of said belt and drops off. This not only makes the location of the conveyer look unsightly but involves considerable labor cost for removal of the spilled material. The material also tends to build up on the idlers supporting the belt on its forward travel and also on the head and tail pulleys of the conveyer.

Referring now to the drawing, I0 and Il designate two spaced apart parallel channel members in opposed relation to one another forming a support for the head pulley i2, the tail pulley IS, the troughing idlers i4, and the return idlers l5. Said channel members ill and Ii are in turn supported by vertical column members It. Aconventional type of fabric conveyer belt I! passes around the head pulley I 2, and the tail pulley I3, and is supported on its forward and return runs by the troughing idlers II and the return idlers IS. The head pulley I2 is driven by the motor l8 through a suitable reduction gear unit l8 and the chain drive 20.

The material (such as raw sugar, for instance) to be conveyed is fed to the belt by the hopper 2 i and in the embodiment shown, is discharged, over the end of the belt, at the head pulley, into the hopper 22. l

The tail pulley I3 has the sprocket 23 mounted on one end of the shaft thereof driving the chain 24, which in turn, drives the sprocket 25 mounted on the shaft 26. Mounted on the shaft 26 are also the chain sheaves 21. Two endless chains 28 are driven by the said sheaves 21, and at the upper end of the conveyer, near the head pulley l2, are trained over the idler sheaves 29 keyed to the shaft 46 supported by the bearings 41 mounted on the members I0 and II. The driv 45 ing chain 24 passes over. two idler pulleys 30 and 3| the purpose of which-is to so align the chain that the tail pulley I! may be moved longitudinally along the members Ill and II to compensate for stretching of the conveyer belt I1 without disturbing the chain 24.

Under the entire conveyer belt I! there is disposed the sheet metal spill pan 32, supported by the longitudinal members 33 and 34, and connecting at one end with the hopper 22. The

chains 23 have the scraper members 35 and 33 fixed thereto and spaced so that as the chains 28 move along the spill pan 32, certain of the scraper members, such as the member 35, move up said spill pan 32 towards the head pulley l2 on the lower run of the endless chains 23, and certain other of said members 36 move toward the tail pulley I3 on the upper run of the chains 23.

The return idlers I! are of the same type as the idler disclosed in my Patent No. 2,023,611, being comprised of a preformed welded steel grating rolled around the bearings 31 carried on the shafts 33, which are supported by the U-bolts 39 fastened to the members l and II.

The troughing idlers I are composed of three sections each similar to the return idlers i5, but shorter and have their shafts 43 supported by the brackets ll fastened to the transverse members 42, in turn supported by the members it and II. The other of these idlers Na and ilb are upwardly inclined relative to the center horizontally disposed idler llc.

The head and tail pulleys l2 and I3 are of similar construction but are made of the heavier grating 39, which is rolled around the three pulleys l3, keyed to the shafts N, journaled in the bearings 38. Two sheet metal cones l8 and 48 are built into the said head and tail pulleys i2 and '3. The cones 43 have a diameter at the large inner end equal to the diameter of the pulleys 33 and a diameter at their small outer ends equal to the diameter of the hubs 43a of the pulleys 43. The length is equal to the distance between the center and outside ends of the pulleys 43. In operation these cones 43 have the tendency to work material falling from between the bars of the grating 49 toward the outside pulleys l3 and to finally discharge it from between the spokes of said outer pulleys 33. Where these cones 43 are not used the material falling from the top of the pulleys l2 and I3 merely falls to the bottom and is carried around to the top again and the process repeats eventually choking up the entire space inside the pulley.

Part of the material which falls from the troughing idlers It remains on the return portion of the belt l1, and is conveyed toward the tail pulley I 3. In order to remove the greater part of this material a V-shaped plow 50 is placed upon the return portion of the belt I! near the tail pulley end. The said plow 63 is composed of two vertical walls "a and 53b Joined at a suitable angle at one end and spreading to a width slightly greater than that of the belt IT. The top of the plow is covered with a V-shaped roof i so that material falling on the said roof 5| will slide off to the outside of the plow walls 530 and 50b and be plowed off of the belt l1 instead of falling inside of the walls "a and 53b and remaining on the belt. The material thus discharged from the belt falls into the spill pan 32 and is eventually carried to the hopper 22. The angle of the plow roof I to the horizontal should be slightly greater than the angle of repose of any material that the conveyer is intended to convey.

In operation the motor i3 drives the head pulley I 2 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1, thus moving the belt H and conveying material from the hopper 2| to the hopper 22. The tail pulley i3, thus turns and drives the chains 23 by means of the sprocket 23, the drive chain 23 and the sprocket 25 which rotates in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 2. The scraper member 25, thus moves towards the hopper 22, carrying the material which has dropped into the spill pan 32, with it, and finally pushing it off of the end of said pan 32 into the hopper 22. The scraper member 35 now goes around the idler sheaves 29 and starts down towards the end of the spill pan 32 nearest the tail pulley I 3, the said scraper member 35 now being supported by the chains 28 out of contact with the spill pan 32. Thus, as soon as material falls from the belt or idlers thereof, it is caught in the spill pan 32 and conveyed to the hopper 22.

Although the embodiment of the invention illustrated is applied to an inclined conveyer, it is obvious that it can be applied just as well to a flat conveyer.

It is also obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction of the above specifically described embodiment of my invention, without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a conveyer, means for collecting material spilling therefrom, and delivering said collection with the material being conveyed, said means including a spill pan mounted under the conveyer and extending longitudinally thereof below all parts of said conveyer.

2. In a conveyer, means for collecting material spilling therefrom, and delivering said collection with the material being conveyed, said means including a spill pan mounted under the conveyer and extending longitudinally thereof below all parts of said conveyer, and means operating in said pan for conveying material therein to the point of delivery of said conveyer.

3. In a conveyer, means for collecting material spilling therefrom, and delivering said collection with the material being conveyed, said means including a spill pan mounted under the conveyer and extending longitudinally thereof below all parts of said conveyer, and means operating in said pan for conveying material therein to the point of delivery of said conveyer, said last means comprising an endless scraper conveyer.

4. The device, as claimed in claim 3, and means for operating the latter conveyer.

5. The device, as claimed in claim 3, and means for operating the latter conveyer, said last means being operated through the first conveyer.

6. In combination, an endless conveyer, a spill pan extending throughout the length and under all parts thereof, and means whereby material spilled on said pan is conveyed to the point of delivery of said conveyer.

7. In combination, an endless conveyer, a spill pan extending throughout the length and under all parts thereof, and means whereby material spilled on said pan is conveyed to the point of delivery of said conveyer, said conveyer having a driving means through which said last means is operated. I V

8. The device, as claimed in claim '7, said last means consisting of a pair of endlesslchains and spaced apart scraper members connecting said chains.

9. In combination, an endless conveyer, a spill pan extending throughout the length and under all parts thereof, and means whereby material spilled on said pan is conveyed to the point of delivery of said conveyer, said conveyer having a driving means through which said last means is operated, said last means consisting of a pair of endless chains and spaced apart scraper members connecting said chains, said conveyer comprising a flexible belt, means for troughing said belt.

10. In combination, a conveyer consisting of an endless belt having forward and return runs, head and tail pulleys, intermediate idler pulleys supporting said forward and return runs, means for cleaning said forward and return runs said head and tail pulleys and said intermediate idler pulleys, spill pan means mounted below said conveyer and extending longitudinally thereof below all parts of said conveyer for collecting material cleaned from said parts, and including means operating in said spill pan means for conveying material so cleaned together with spilled material from said forward run to the point of delivery of said conveyer.

JACOB J. NEUMAN. 

